Greeting – Meaning, Importance, & Necessity of Greeting People

The act of making others aware of your presence by communication is known as Greetings.

It also means to suggest any type of relationship between you and the other individual, or it is also a way to show attention towards other human beings.

Greeting people is a part of your life and it is important for so many reasons.

Meaning of  Greeting:

If you want to be in contact with people by communicating or meeting them on certain occasions or festivals, you actually greet people.

If you are greeting someone, it means that you are developing a sort of relationship or a formal status in between you and another person or a group of people.

This act of meet and greet is common in so many countries that it has become a tradition nowadays. It is known to be a part of our culture and tradition, however, it is followed by the majority of people.

There are different ways of greeting people in different countries or nations. As in Islam, ‘As-Salamualaikum’ is the word (Arabic) used when you meet someone. It is the way of greeting in Muslim countries.

However, in other languages as in English, ‘Good Day’ is the drill used when you meet someone. The word ‘Ciao’ is used in Italian, ‘Namaste’ in India (Hindi), in Hawaiian the word ‘Aloha’ is used, and in Hebrew, you greet people by saying ‘Shalom.’

The handshake and bowing are also used when you meet someone or say farewell.

Types of Greetings:

  • Eid Greetings
  • Ramadan Greetings
  • Happy New Year Greetings
  • Christmas Greetings
  • Happy Birthday Greetings
  • Friendship Greetings

Why do we greet people?

Well, some people tend to meet their beloved for no reason. It is an act of showing love and care.

But, it is customary to greet people on certain occasions like Eid ul fitr, Eid ul Adha, Eid Milad un Nabi, Christmas, New Year Eve, etc.

Such festivals or occasions are popular for people to meet and greet their relatives, friends, cousins, some go out of the city to their relatives, and much more like that!

As this is customary, you can see that it is the duty of one to greet others. Different religions and culture teach this tradition thoroughly because it is an etiquette of one’s culture or society.

Greeting Gestures

Such an act can be done just by giving a formal expression as in the army or in former times, the tipping of one’s hat was known to be the way to greet other officers.

However, a simple handshake or a smile, hug, kiss, and different types of gestures are used for this purpose as bowing too.

It shows one’s manners and love.

In Europe, when you meet someone, you tend to kiss them on the hand or on the cheek. The Arabic term known as ‘Salaam’ means ‘peace.’ This is said after a handshake or while placing your right hand on the chest.


As you know by now, that there are a lot of ways to greet people and develop communication or such relations with them, the act of greeting is known to be a custom. People mostly greet each other on religious occasions or festivals.